What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 905. Today is for Sarah..

 

With apologies to Brian who wasn’t ready, but my, what a great picture of Sarah’s apple cheek smiley face!

Oh Deskers, we gather on Wednesday905  with great sadness and shock to remember Sarah, and celebrate that section of her life that she shared with us. I can’t share any details, I don’t know them, It is enough isn’t it, to know that Sarah has died. Too soon. Too suddenly. 

Sarah took over the management of WOYWW 125 weeks ago when I decided that I’d had enough and you were being bored by my uninspiring blogging. True to form, Sarah took it all on with magnificent efficiency. Her time management skills were a bit legendary don’t you think? I think she and I were good illustrations of that old phrase ‘give a busy woman a job and she’ll get it done, give a woman who has time to do the job and the deadline will slip…’ or something like that. Procrastination was just not in Sarah’s genetic code. She crafted ahead - made backgrounds for her daily ATCs in monthly batches, she did a year of daily art journal pages for which she prepared each prior evening, without fail. She knitted ahead of the season she wanted the item for. Nothing in terms of her preparations escaped me because they were so impressive to my slap dash character!

Sarah joined WOYWW in early 2018 which was quite a big year for her in Craft terms, she had some samples shown on TV’s craft channel called Hochanda and was invited to join the Clarity design team. She has been a member of that DT ever since. I don’t know, but am presuming that like a lot of other  design team members, her blog had to become exclusively about Clarity products. I know she had a lot of followers - between the Workdesk posts that we knew her for, she published some really useful step-by-step technique instructions and attended Clarity’s Retreat days as a tutor. Im sure her blog will remain as a good resource for many.

We first met Sarah and Eva at the Llandudno Crop hosted by Margaret. She was very forthright - there had been earlier Crops which she did not attend, and without hesitation told me that she didn’t really think it would have been worth the petrol and the effort!  Speak as you find gal, I replied, and asked her if this one, her first  Crop was OK. I must admit I was quaking a bit, I’ve never had a critique of Crop before! All good, she was pleased they had come, found us all quite friendly but the parking inadequate. Made me laugh (relief and empathy, parking was a bit horrid!) which made her look a bit baffled! Indeed, such was her continued enthusiasm that she hosted a crop in Stoke on Trent, her home town (that’s where the picture was taken).

That Crop at Stoke was bittersweet for Sarah and came at a time when we were all glad to be able to hug her and offer support. Her husband Paul had recently passed away and she displayed deep resilience in going on with plans made. The next day at her beloved Trentham Gardens, Cindy, Helen and I walked with her in sunshine and enjoyed a very relaxed and sunny time with her.  She chatted about Paul and her sons, and her twin sister and her Mum and Dad. Her Dad has since passed away. It’s been quite a hard couple of years for her and her family, they are very much in my thoughts as I write about Sarah, as is dear Eva, who found Helen to break this awful news to, and who has lost a very close friend.

This is how I’ll remember Sarah;  casual, and often in my head, wearing the shirt of her football club, Stoke City. WOYWW, Stoke City, Clarity….showing a woman who had deep loyalties, huh. Her WOYWW family will miss her for sure, she touched the lives of so many, a language teacher in real life, and certainly a craft teacher in fun life. And as always, so, so much more. So many parts to her, as complicated and accomplished a woman as you could wish to meet. Rest In Peace Sarah, and thank you for teaching us all how to make the most of every day.

It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know Sarah, link here to tell your desk or your Sarah story, we’ll get back to the trivia of desk tops and crafting at some point, not least because it’s our therapy.